“If you ask me to immaculate your shoes, I will immaculate them,” Hearn told The Stomping Ground. “But basically the reference was that I said I wasn’t too proud to know my position and the opportunities open to me.”

Over the past two years, Saudi Arabia has financed a series of major boxing events, combining several championship fights that had been stalled in customary negotiations. Matchroom-promoted fighters have appeared on a number of Riyad’s season cards during this period, including major title fights and heavyweight events featuring some of the sport’s most recognizable names.

Hearn said his approach has always been elementary. When an opportunity arises that will benefit the players and the company, the priority is to take advantage of it rather than worrying about what the moment will look like in public.

“My senior man says if you walk past a fivepence coin on the floor you’ll pick it up,” Hearn said. “If a great opportunity comes along, we make money and I enjoy it, no problem.”

Hearn added that he expects to continue working with Turki on future boxing events, despite the occasional public exchange. Several promoters now partner with Saudi-backed events, and financing has become a regular feature of the sport’s biggest fight negotiations.

“I think he enjoys working with us,” Hearn said. “He will always do what suits him and we will continue to do what suits us and our players.”

Former heavyweight champion Oliver McCall still appears in the US heavyweight rankings at the age of 60, an unusual entry that immediately raises questions about how those rankings are calculated.

BoxRec currently ranks McCall 51st among American heavyweights and in the top 250 in the world, which puts the “Atomic Bull” ahead of several energetic fighters.

Below McCall are DeAndre Savage (No. 54), Josh Popper (No. 59), Curtis Harper (No. 61), Ed Latimore (No. 70) and Tyrrell Herndon (No. 83).

What stands out about these spots is that many of these players have been much more energetic in recent years, while McCall’s appearances have been constrained. Several of them also faced noticeably stronger opposition.

Oliver McCall’s ranking anomaly

McCall, whose professional career began in 1985, has a record of 61-14-1 with 40 knockouts and remains one of the most recognizable heavyweight champions of the 1990s.

The Chicago native defeated Lennox Lewis to win the WBC title before building one of boxing’s longest-lasting careers.

Despite turning 60, McCall still wrestles occasionally under the Country Box banner. His last appearances were in Nashville, Tennessee, where he recorded wins over Gary Cobia and Stacy Frazier and a draw with Carlos Reyes.

McCall fought just three times in six years and drew once. The level of his opponents doesn’t even register on any significant scale compared to some of the fighters listed around him, especially Tyrrell Herndon, who could reasonably be rated higher simply for surviving a seven-round loss to Deontay Wilder.

The anomaly raises a broader question. Is this just a quirk of the ranking system or something that requires further explanation?

It is known that BoxRec uses a points-based formula, but it is unclear whether the calculations are currently fully automated and whether human supervision still plays a role in determining the order.

Mike Tyson Rating

For context, Mike Tyson’s return to Jake Paul – when Tyson was two years younger than the current McCall – placed the former undisputed champion at No. 74 in the United States and No. 338 in the world.

That ranking was about a hundred places below McCall’s current global standing, even though Tyson’s return attracted much more attention and faced a much more vital opponent.

McCall turned professional at the age of 19, meaning the former heavyweight champion is still appearing in the rankings more than forty years after his debut.

On this basis, the existence of a plain nostalgia factor can probably be ruled out.

Instead, the situation indicates that algorithm-based rankings can sometimes produce results that do not reflect activity or opposition.

Whether the breakdown reflects a system working exactly as designed or an anomaly worthy of closer examination is a fair question.

About the author

Phil Jay is a seasoned boxing journalist with over 15 years of experience covering the global fight scene. As editor-in-chief of World Boxing News since 2010, Jay has interviewed dozens of world champions and covered boxing’s biggest nights in the ring. View all articles by Phil Jay.

After the announcement of the rematch between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao, fans are looking forward to a blockbuster undercard that will support the crucial main event. Now the man who was tipped by Mayweather himself to be his successor has revealed that he expects to appear on the bill.

Mayweather and Pacquiao collided in 2015, where Mayweather scored a legendary unanimous decision victory become the unified three-lane welterweight world champion and take bragging rights over his longtime rival.

Now, 11 years on from that mammoth event, two great pound-for-pound fighters will once again take part in the event in September in what is sure to be one of the biggest nights of boxing on the 2026 calendar, with an intriguing card set to support the main attraction.

In an interview with Professional boxing fansMayweather’s protege Curmel Moton revealed he believes he will fight on the undercard.

“I really can’t confirm [that I am on the card]not at the moment, but I feel like there is a very good, high percentage chance that I will definitely be on the card. Hopefully we’ll see you in the second round, but I should definitely be on this card.

Moton has won all eight of his professional contests to date, recording six victories over the distance, but the Salt Lake City-born youngster admitted he is excited at the prospect of taking part in Mayweather’s real fight as well as fighting on the card.

“I’m excited to have Floyd back 100% focused on boxing and not on the show. His record is in the balance so the stakes will be a lot higher, he’ll work a lot harder and he’ll be a lot more focused.

“I’m excited, I’ve never been to a real, real Floyd fight, so it’ll be the first fight and I’ll be on the undercard too, so it’ll be fucking awesome.”

Moton, 19, has been linked to an intriguing affair with Briton Giorgio Visioli, who claims to have beaten the American in sparring sessions in the past. However, time will tell whether Moton will be thrown into the deep end in such a tough fight on the biggest stage.